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THIRTEEN TOP FRIDAY 13TH FACTS ...

To try and shed a bit of light on today of all notable days, we've been scouring the internet (full credit to wikipedia) for top Friday 13th facts, or if not facts at least pieces of info, so you can rationalise your fears. Interesting reading and don't walk under any ladders!

2. In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness (12 months of the year, 12 hours of the clock, 12 gods of Olympus etc.) whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular.

3. The fear of Friday the 13th has been called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom ‘Friday’ is named).

4. Fear of Friday 13th is also called triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen.

There are 13 witches in a coven.

5. In Spanish-speaking countries, instead of Friday, Tuesday the 13th (martes trece) is considered a day of bad luck.

6. The Greeks also consider Tuesday (and especially the 13th) to be an unlucky day. Tuesday is considered to be dominated by the influence of Ares (Mars), the god of war.

9. The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) on June 12, 2008, stated that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are more careful or just stay home.

10. Several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition. One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

11. On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France, an action apparently motivated financially and undertaken by the efficient royal bureaucracy to increase the prestige of the crown.

12. The asteroid 99942 Apophis will make a close encounter with Earth, closer than the orbits of communication satellites, on April 13, 2029.